My intention was to build on that foundation and talk further about the evolutionary molecular and cellular mechanisms that exist in us today and determine whether we are diseased and ill versus healthy and well. My trajectory was to move from physical to mental to social, and then to spiritual illness and disease. However, given the times we are in, I find myself compelled to vault forward to the spiritual. Professional help is important for addressing spiritual malady and addiction because it provides comprehensive care that addresses both physical and spiritual dimensions, offering a structured path to recovery. The 12 Steps of AA encourage improving one’s conscious contact with a higher power, specifically focusing on prayer and meditation in Step 11. By dedicating time to these spiritual practices, we can nurture our spiritual life and find the strength to overcome addiction.
- If you’re interested in spiritual healing, you likely feel that something fundamental is missing from your life.
- What is the “elephant” in the middle of your family’s living room that everyone knows but no one talks about?
- Therefore, they must make an effort to establish a rapport with this higher power.
- The addict may have a nagging feeling that they’re missing the real reason for their agony or pain.
- Giving a threatened person safety instead of reason, rationalization, or punishment, is the equivalent of giving a blind person sight.
What is Spiritual Healing?
STEP 4We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. Living by the principles of AA helps maintain spiritual fitness and reduces the influence of spiritual maladies. Daily practice of these principles can lead to sustained sobriety and spiritual development.
Heart intelligence: Turning towards the divine
When, therefore, we were approached by those in whom the problem had been solved, there was nothing left for us but to pick up the simple kit of spiritual tools laid at our feet. The term “spiritual malady” does not mean that our “spirit” is sick. It simply means we are spiritually blocked off from the Power of God, which enables us to remain sober, happy, joyous, and free.
Big Book of AA Definition of Alcoholic
A spiritual malady, then, reduces to a sense of otherness felt by many alcoholics that prevents them from feeling at peace with themselves and the world around them. According to Alcoholics Anonymous, informally known as The Big Book, when someone with alcoholism drinks, they have an abnormal reaction likened to an allergic reaction. Once a person with AUD takes an alcoholic drink, the body craves more on a physical level. This is why 12-step organizations believe it is not possible to conquer alcoholism using willpower alone.
- Spiritual awakenings often evolve so gradually that they are almost imperceptible.
- If we’re serious about our recovery, if we really want to experience freedom from these behaviors that keep us in bondage, we have to be rigorously honest with our answers.
- So physical cravings are not the primary reason we slip.
- By fostering empathy and meaningful connections, we can break free from the isolation and find a path to recovery.
Particularly notable to this discussion is what we look like in threat. In threat, we can be mobilized towards aggressive or reactive defenses or we can be immobilized into passive or submissive defenses. Both phenotypes are helpful for survival, but long-term defense states are ultimately destructive to us.
By addressing the spiritual disconnection at the root of our addiction, we can begin to heal and find lasting sobriety. Grasping this concept allows us to truly understand the necessity of spiritual healing in our recovery journey. When these physical, mental, and spiritual components come together, an individual with alcohol use disorder will be rendered powerless to arrest a vicious cycle of obsessions, cravings, and alcohol abuse.
It’s been medically proven that after a few days of not drinking, alcohol is completely processed out of the body. After a period of abstinence, the substance is physically worked out of the body. I really like the analogy that the physical part of our disease is an “allergy of https://ecosoberhouse.com/ the body”. Because its exactly like allergies; For example, some people can rub their face in a cat’s fur and it doesn’t bother them a bit. (Although I’m not sure who would ever want to do that!) But for me, I’m allergic to cats and if I did that I’d be in a world of hurt.